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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, ARIZONA
Lot 281
Eugene Edward Speicher(1883-1962)Miss Gloria Stroock 46 x 36 in. (116.8 x 91.4 cm.)
28 July – 7 August 2025, 12:00 EDT
Online, New YorkUS$4,000 - US$6,000
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Mary Manfredi
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Eugene Edward Speicher (1883-1962)
Miss Gloria Stroock
signed 'Eugene Speicher' (lower right) and inscribed with title and signed again (on the artist's label affixed to the reverse of the frame)
oil on canvas
46 x 36 in. (116.8 x 91.4 cm.)
Painted circa 1951.
signed 'Eugene Speicher' (lower right) and inscribed with title and signed again (on the artist's label affixed to the reverse of the frame)
oil on canvas
46 x 36 in. (116.8 x 91.4 cm.)
Painted circa 1951.
Footnotes
Provenance
Estate of the artist.
American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, bequest from the above, circa 1962.
Gloria Jane Stroock (1924-2024), Tucson, Arizona, acquired from the above, March 22, 1984.
By descent to the present owner from the above, son of the above, 2024.
Literature
G. Stroock-Stern, Cast of Characters: A Memoir, Connecticut, 2018, pp. 110-121, illustrated.
M. Barnes, "Gloria Stroock, 'McMillan & Wife' and 'Fun With Dick and Jane' Actress, Dies at 99," The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles, May 14, 2024.
M. Licht, "Gloria Stroock Dead at 99: Hollywood Actress Starred Alongside Rock Hudson and was on Broadway," National World, London, May 15, 2024.
The present work is accompanied by a copy of Cast of Characters: A Memoir by Gloria Stroock.
The present portrait by Eugene Edward Speicher depicts American actress Gloria Jane Stroock (1924-2024), remembered for her television roles as Cornelia Otis Skinner in the The Girls and Maggie in McMillan & Wife, as well as for her numerous stage roles. Speicher wrote Stroock a letter in December 1945 after seeing her in Kiss and Tell and other stage productions, asking if she would be willing to pose for a portrait to be used as a sample of his work for Portraits Incorporated. Stroock was initially unmoved to reply to his request but was eventually persuaded to sit for him by renowned director and producer, George Abbott (1887-1995) who happened to sit next to Speicher one day at lunch at the Dutch Treat Club in New York and spoke to him about his desire to paint Stroock.
After Abbott's successful interference, Speicher went on to paint Stroock's likeness first in 1946 and again around 1951, resulting in the present portrait. Stroock recalled, "He wanted to do another portrait, the same size as the one before, also for Portraits Incorporated. I was happy at the thought of spending time with these gentle people and immediately said yes. For this portrait I wore my red taffeta evening gown, also with a tight bodice, and a three-strand pearl choker. I held his wife's [Elsie's] fan with my right hand and short white gloves with my left. He draped a pale pink shawl over my left arm and the chair, which was upholstered in a soft yellow damask." (as quoted in G. Stroock-Stern, Cast of Characters: A Memoir, Connecticut, 2018, p. 111.) The resulting portrait is nobly conceived, exhibiting Speicher's mastery of composition and his distinctive color palette that together form a definitive aesthetic repose. Stroock was eventually able to acquire the present portrait from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York in 1984, while the first portrait Speicher painted of her in 1946 hung for many years in the Surrey Hotel in the collection of the Denihan family.